While the concept was pretty nifty (heck, we even have our own photo sphere action on our Google+ page)
it had its downsides. There were a number of flaws in most pictures,
irregularities between exposues and the transition between images. Of
course, one of the biggest problems was trying to process moving
objects. Often you'd end up with a blur or just a random phantom arm
hanging there in the middle of your picture. Photo sphere was far from a
perfect feature, but the latest update should improve a whole lot.

Evan Rapport announced on his Google+ page
that his team was trying to solve two main problems: the balance and
joining of individual pictures together into the sphere and improving
the exposure adjustment between pictures. Evan, who is a Product Manager
over at Google, said his team was aiming at improving smoother
transition between the images, reducing the amount of breaks and messy
joins and helping create a uniform and consistent look.

In the example above, the beach scene definitely makes a great
impression of what the new photo sphere can accomplish. Here's to hoping
that the feature gets ported away from Nexus devices (....or stock
Android devices) and into the hands of more smart phones.